32 - Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin and Winston
bfertig
No Ordinary Time
krenzel16
FDR
krenzel16




As a boy, Roosevelt visited president Grover Cleveland and Cleveland told him never to become the president.
Roosevelt was the first president to appear on television.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was in office longer than any other president. He served three consecutive terms and died during his fourth.
Roosevelt's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, never entrusted her son with managing the family's money because she didn't think he was up to the task.
He was the first president to have a presidential aircraft.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was a fifth cousin once removed of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and a seventh cousin once removed of Winston Churchill.
He was the first president whose mother was eligible to vote for him.
Roosevelt was related by either blood or marriage to eleven other Presidents: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren and George Washington.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's favorite sport was swimming.
He was named after a great-uncle, Franklin Hughes Delano

I'm reading The Pentagon: A History by Steve Vogel. It takes place primarily during the presidency of FDR. (although the last part of the book addresses 9/11 and the rebuilding.)

A key figure in the book is Brigadier General Brehon Somervell who pushed the Pentagon project through to a quick and timely success.

Harry Truman also appears in the book as a junior senator from Missouri who is appalled by Somervell's attitudes about devoting huge finances to the project.

Did anyone else get Franklin and Lucy from an ER batch this year? It's not exactly a bio of FDR, but it does give a lot of background about his personal life.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal by William Leuchtenburg is also a good book by a respected historian.

I got one and did a review.

I have read Franklin and Winston which looks at the friendship that developed between these two leaders. It's an interesting perspective, often looking at their personal communications and lives, but perhaps good to pursue once one already has some background with FDR and/or Churchill.

IMO, the one biography to read on FDR is No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which won the Pulitzer. Not only does it make FDR and ER come alive as real human beings, but it also makes you feel as though you are really living during that period of time and gives you a feel for what it was like for "the greatest generation," as it focuses on the U.S. homefront from 1940- 1945. Just a great and amazing book. Doris Kearns Goodwin is excellent.

FDR by Jean Edward Smith is also good, in that it covers the basics, but in a much less compelling way.

Krenzel
I see that you have FDR done as well. You're doing great!

I must agree with #6 -krenzel16. No ordinary time is an extraordinary work --giving a very and intimate portrait of an extraordinary relationship. I'm not sure I'm going to count it as my 'biography' since it concentrates almost exclusively on his years as President.

And....as an audio, Ed Herrman is an outstanding narrator, and Goodwin gives us an introspective intro and pleasant wrap-up. Well worth your time, particularly as a supplement.

I read Roosevelt and Hopkins a few years ago, an amazing and detailed look into the Roosevelt White House during the New Deal and the war by Robert E. Sherwood, who himself worked in the Roosevelt administration for many of those years.

I keep forgetting to come back here. Last year I read Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage by Joseph Persico. An interesting look at the relationships between the U.S. spy agencies as well as how Roosevelt's management style served to keep these agencies in competition with each other.

F.D.R. An Intimate History by Nathan Miller
This is a really good potted history of a big man, a story "written small" about a person who "wrote large" on the world as we now know it. As with other books by Nathan Miller that I have read, he has crammed an awful lot into a small space and he has done it in a manner which is informative, as complete as possible and very readable. I believe that Mr. Miller chose not to elucidate on a lot of FDR's very personal characteristics for fear that they might get in the way of this story of how such a man was so instrumental in making USA what it is now. Like Churchill, Roosevelt was a man for the times and we should probably be thankful for that. It is scary to think of what Al Smith or Alf Landon would have made of the situation that needed to be dealt with and those that arose. At the end of the book I wasn't sure that I actually liked FDR, although I felt I should have, but I liked what he did.
I think that Mr. Miller's treatment of Theodore Roosevelt in another book was better than his treatment of Franklin in this one but it is still a good biography and I recommend it to anyone reading bios of the Presidents.

"Hi-Ya Neighbor" by Ruth Stevens
Subtitled: "Intimate Glimpses of Franklin D. Roosevelt at Warm Springs, Georgia, 1924-45". The style of writing is a cross between Grandma Moses and Early Corporate Report. The Grandma Moses part is primitive but very sweet. The Corporate Report part is pedestrian, factual and informative. There are some nice personal photographs included. Having once read "F.D.R.: The Beckoning of Destiny", I enjoyed the simple treatment and the obvious adulation in which he was held by the Warm Springs community. It tells of one side of a man to which there were many.

The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes

Finished No Ordinary Time on audio, which I really enjoyed. I found myself immersed in that era and was constantly referring to it in conversatiosn and quizzing my 90 yr. old father in law and 86 year old mother of those times and what they remembered. An engrossing book of the war years in the White House, I learned an awful lot about the man, Eleanor and those years together.

I'm just stopping by to recommend The Roosevelts and the Royals about the friendship between Franklin, Eleanor, King George VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, and the effect that friendship had on history with a big emphasis on World War II.

I just finished FDR by Jean Edward Smith. This is a very written book. I could hardly put it down. The book covers FDR's early life, his political career and his family. Considering FDR served 12+ years as President, the book did not delve to deep into the details. I suppose more details would have easily netted a 2 volume set. A couple of examples where I found the book lacking were coverage of the depression and no follow-up on his legacy or his family. Smith discusses much about the depression and FDR's response to it but "bang" the war starts and no more depression. Also the book ends rather abruptly. His legacy after his death is not discussed at all. The book does not tell us anything about his family after his death either. Next on my TBR list are several book on World War 2. I may also add another FDR biography too. I have also added biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Stimson to my amazon wish list.

Just finished FDR by Jean Edward Smith. This book was lacking in several areas listed in the previous post. Would have liked more info on WWII. They really just covered the meeting with Churchill and Stalin. Not much on family, but I have a bio on Eleanor to read.

Traitor to His Class
by H W. Brands

The only reason I hesitate to say this is the best presidential biography I've read is because it's been so long since I've read some of the others and I don't trust my memory. Professor Brands has written a highly enjoyable book. He starts out recounting the events of Roosevelt's morning on December 7th 1941, intercut with vignettes from Pearl Harbor and the surrounding seas. In the process he mentions some of the things Roosevelt had done, giving a picture of what his presidency had accomplished and where it stood with the American people. The prologue ends with the opening words of Roosevelt's address to Congress on December 8th. Not that I needed it, but it made quite an appetizer for the full biography.

I ended up going through the book at a pretty good pace. Professor Brands painted an informative and engaging picture of Franklin Roosevelt and the events of his life. Of course, both Roosevelt and the current events of his life make fascinating subject matter. While the overall tone is positive, Brands doesn't hesitate to point out the points where Roosevelt erred or was less than honorable. I often ask myself, as I read through these presidential bios, if I would vote for the man I'm reading about. I can see myself having many reservations with Franklin Roosevelt. He was very much a politician, never hesitating to employ some spin or play to his audience. But his presidency had so much influence on the America I grew up in--what I think of as "normal"--I can't help but see myself casting my vote for him despite any reservations. In fact, I'd even be tempted to award the man, at least as presented in this biography, the title of America's greatest president to date. He had the character to lead the country through two of the biggest crises in our history and, for good or ill, accomplished an incredible amount during his long administration.